First off,  standard disclaimer.  You ARE NOT going to find me liable for ANY
use/misuse
of ANYTHING found in this document.  If you follow these instructions either IN whole
or
part,  and something goes wrong,  (for instance a rip in the fabric of space-time,  or
by
using this information you somehow create the dreaded,  infamous, crazed, screaming
chicken virus,  and this same crazed chicken appears on your screen,  reaches out from
the
monitor and strangles you) don't come looking for ME!

   Your mileage will vary.


Anyways,  I think everyone should get the point by now.....
===========================================================================

(The following pertains to windows 95/98, and in some circumstances,  NT ONLY.  The
information contained here is designed to be a brute force approach to getting the
most
when you need it.  Removing some hardware dependant drivers could very possibly
disable
the entire computer.  It is intended for and BY povray users.  Users who need,  "just
one
more kilobyte" to get that certain scene rendered.  This document is not intended as
an
overall performance enhancement guide.



First thing we'll consider is speed.
------------------------------------
Let's think about "background processes"....  Just because the taskbar shows
the only program currently running is Povray for Windows... doesn't mean that Povray
for
Windows is the ONLY program running.

As proof of such,  close everything so that the taskbar is completely emtpy and the
only
thing you see is the start button.  Now,  please do the three finger,  nothing left to
lose,  windows puked again,  salute.  (Control-Alt-Delete)  There should appear a box
in
the center of the screen.
Look at what is listed in that box.  Each item that appears is a thread/program of
some
sort.  These NEED to be closed/terminated.  If you think for one instant that these
background threads/programs are inconsequential,  Montey is going to inform you that
you
JUST missed "computer trivia" for 500,  and that you just lost the double jeopardy
round.


(note:  for the plain-jane,  vanilla windows setups,  it may be possible that NOTHING
appears in the box with the exception of one or two items.)

Although a complete list of threads that you may find is completely beyond anything I
would dare to write,  I will however list a few that can (somewhat) safely be
terminated.


     ==============           ONES TO KILL        ===================


findfast:  This is installed and runs/loads EVERYTIME you start windows.
           Microsoft word, or works installs this.

ltstart:   This comes from Lotus Smartsuite,  and possibly a few
other Lotus products.


prttest:   This comes with some installations of scanners.

porttst:   Same as above.

realaud:   Real Audio player.  This one sits running minimized in the
taskbar as a small icon on the lower right corner.

opware16
opware32

===============  ONES that MUST stay running  (don't touch!)  ===========

explorer
systray

===========================================================================


 When killing off these unwanted threads,  understand that the benefit of doing so is
actually twofold.  One,  it's simply one less process that windows has to contend
with.
(and thus alot cpu time)  Secondly,  when stopping them dead in their tracks such as I
have described above....  the memory that these programs once consumed,  are released,
and given back to windows.  (i.e  so that it can be alloted to other programs such as
Povray when/if needed)  The final word on this is rather simple.  The fewer the
processes/threads/programs,  the better.  Plain and simple.  It is to your benefit to
experiment with this.  Try killing each process you find listed in the dialog box and
see
what happens.  Please note that it's normal to see some disk activity when doing this.

===========================================================================

 There is also "overclocking".  I'm not going to elaborate on this other than a strict
definition.  Overclocking is simply the act of driving the CPU and/or Bus at a faster
speed than it was intended.  There are arguments for and against this.  And you must
make
the decision yourself as to whether you want to delve into this black art.  I have
included some links so that you may read more about this subject.


http://www.overclockers.com     Good info on overclocking. Interesting page     of
results
for various week/country      processors.

http://www.anandtech.com -  Lots of hardware info (not just about
overclocking).

http://sdw.pair.com             Interesting site with a page devoted to    
overclocking
results by processor/Mboard/etc.

http://www.cpu-central.com      Lots of detailed info

http://www2.tomshardware.com    One of the best hardware sites on the web.     Lots of
info on overclocking and hardware
    in general.






MEMORY CONSIDERATIONS
---------------------


 Have a look at your autoexec.bat and config.sys
There are a few things that can be removed here.  (probably) Is there a CDROM driver
statement?  Possibly something that looks like, VIDE-CD.SYS ??  You can keep this from
being loaded by simply putting a ':' or a "REM"  at the beginning of the statement.
Please note that removing/editing/deleting any statements within your startup
configuration files could potentialy disable the entire machine,  and/or peripheral
devices such as the mouse,  scanner,  CDROM, TAPEdrive, ZIPdrive,  etc.  Again,  your
mileage will vary.   One common myth is that these "drivers" loaded from autoexec.bat
and
config.sys play no part until you see the black&white C:\ prompt.  In otherwords,  a
DOS
prompt.  And if you believe that,  Monty just informed you that you have just lost the
bonus round as well.  It is usually best to disable EVERYTHING in your startup
configuration if you can get by with it.  The advantages are several.  One,  again is,
memory requirements.  The drivers/programs are NOT dynamically loaded.  Meaning they
do
not release themselves from memory as needed.  No,  they are static,  and are ALWAYS
there
eating up one resource after another.

 Of the things I would suggest removing,  (if only for a particularly LONG rendering
session) would be,  EMM386.EXE  Windows itself does NOT need it to run.  Period.  next
in
order would be CD-ROM drivers.  Almost from a sheer memory conservation standpoint,
SMARTDRV.EXE is a LARGE memory eater.  I can think of NO reason why this should even
exist
these days.  Windows doesn't need it,  nor use it.  It's really nothing more than a
disk-caching program left over from the win 3.1 - 3.11-workgroup days.  Again,  final
word
is simply,  LESS/NONE is better!


(Wallpaper/background images/desktop)

 There is also the problem of the cutesy wallpaper most of us see these days gracing
every
computer desktop.  What a large majority of people don't realize is that the memory
consumption of these totally groovy pictures is REALLY high.  Let's consider the
average
computer desktop resolution of 800x600 at 24-bit color.  (povray users will often
times
have a much higher setting)  It stands to reason that this picture of whatever must be
stored and loaded into SOME place.  It is a common misconception that wallpaper
consumes
no memory.  (Monty is getting upset with you now)  The normal bitmap image at the
above
resolution on average consumes over 1 megabyte of physical memory.  ONE MEGABYTE
FOLKS!
And that 1 meg is consumed ALL the time.  Not just when windows tasks have been
minimized,  and the desktop finally comes to the foreground.  Bottom line,  load a
800x600
image as windows wallpaper, say goodbye to 1 meg.  GONE!



DOUBLESPACE/DRVSPACE
--------------------

(Before reading any further,  it is imperative that you determine whether the disk
compression program(s)  DriveSpace OR DoubleSpace is currently being used.  If you
know
for certain that they are not,  please continue.)

 By opening windows-explorer and going to the root of drive C:  You will find a file
named,  "MSDOS.SYS"  By adding two simple lines,  it may be possible to save yourself
SOME
cpu cycles,  and memory as well.
Apparently,  regardless of whether either one of the mentioned Disk compression
programs
are in use,  Windows-95 loads BOTH of these drivers at startup.  This is a thorough
waste.  After opening MSDOS.SYS (use notepad to open it with!)  scroll down to the
[Options] menu and insert the following two lines:

DblSpace=0
DrvSpace=0

Your MSDOS.SYS file should now looking something similiar to this:

============================================================
[Options]
DblSpace=0
DrvSpace=0
DoubleBuffer=0
LoadTop=0
BootWarn=1
BootDelay=0
Logo=0
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
Network=1
=============================================================


 I have been informed that this "flaw" and the above two mentioned lines are no longer
needed for users of WINDOWS-98.  And that the disk compression drivers aren't loaded
unless REALLY needed.  However,  I have not been able to confirm this myself.

***************************************************************************

This is a work in progress.  If you know of any errors,  or would like to contribute
anything,  please write to:

joh### [at] netjavacom

When confirmed,  your contributions will be added,  and you'll even get your name
mentioned here!  (great huh ?)

This is all I have for now.  I'll add more to this at a later date.  I sincerely hope
that
somewhere this was useful to someone in the povray community.  I think if only one
person
out there applies JUST ONE thing  I have written here,  and finds it useful... it was
worth it.
Goodbye for now.

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